So who will Clemson's kicker be Saturday night?

Clemson place kicker Alex Spence (41) misses a field goal, his second miss of the game, during the 3rd quarter on Friday, Oct. 13, 2017 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.(Photo: BART BOATWRIGHT/Staff)Buy Photo

Greg Huegel had proven to be a consistent performer over the past couple of seasons, making 43 of his 55 attempts and earning second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors. But when Huegel was lost for the season after tearing an ACL in practice on Sept. 20, Clemson’s coach didn’t anticipate the kicking issues that have unfolded since.

Backup kicker Alex Spence, a redshirt junior from Florence, replaced Huegel as the Tigers’ starter, but has proceeded to make only two of his six field goal attempts since, forcing Swinney to reopen the kicking competition.

Since the Syracuse game, during which Spence missed attempts from 35 and 38 yards in a 27-24 defeat, a three-way battle has unfolded between Spence, veteran reserve Christian Groomes and walk-on Drew Costa, whom Swinney plucked from his “inventory” after Costa tried out as a walk-on a couple of years ago.

“Costa is doing great,” Swinney said. “Every day he’s extending his (day-to-day) contract. He’s getting to eat meals now. Walk-ons get to eat, so he’s loving life. And he’s got a live leg.

“Christian has done well, too. They’re all just kind of right there, but Alex is still out front.”

Spence is the source of much of Swinney’s frustration, primarily because he makes kicks in practice, then comes up short – or wide left – in games.

“It’s frustrating because I see Alex do it in practice,” Swinney said. “He’s been awesome since the Syracuse game. I mean he comes out to practice and we track them. Everybody’s getting the same kick, everything’s the same, everybody’s got to have the same everything. I don’t want anything different for anybody. And we’re trying to just let them compete their tails off.”

Swinney isn’t expecting the kickers to drill 50-yarders on a regular basis; at this point, he’d be satisfied with some consistency from short range.

“I’m just asking them to make the layups,” Swinney said. “I ain’t even interested in a three-pointer. Let’s just make the layups. If we can just make some layups, we can maybe grow from there.”

Swinney said the competition will continue throughout this week – and probably right up until Saturday night’s 8:12 p.m. kickoff.

“I’m going to watch warm-ups,” Swinney said. “It’ll be the most-watched warm-ups in the history of kicking warm-ups – get there early.

“I’m going to chart it all the way. All the way to kickoff, I’m charting it. And I have no idea who’s going to run out there first; it may be Alex. At some point, we’ve got to take it to the game field. I mean I like everybody, it’s not personal. But you’ve got to perform.”